Love
by SharpDressedMan
Summary: A ShikaTema love story


His feelings, emotions, ran deep for her love. All he wanted was to love and be loved back. his love for this fair maiden was eating him up inside, why couldn't he tell her? Was it nerves, was it fear that she would reject him? He could only sit there, staring into the ever expanding abyss of the clouds and sky, pondering of the worst. Temari was all Shikamaru could think about, he could picture her glaring deeply into his eyes and biting his head off, not literally though, just in the sense she would be angry. But he had to let her know, had to express his feelings to her because you see keeping something like love bottled up, concealed inside you hurts. His heart ached, he was experiencing so many different emotions all at one time, so many complex feelings can really hurt. But he made a vow to himself, an oath if you will, to tell her the truth rather than acting like his usual laid back, carefree, sarcastic self. It would be hard, but all great things come at a great cost.

He sat up, pulling himself into a more upright position. How was he to pull off such a, seemingly impossible, feat? He himself, was a superbly accurate strategist but, in this area he was stumbling around in the darkness. He didn't know how to express to her, show her, his undieing affection. 'Aha' he thought to himself, I know exactly what I'll do. A smirk began to overcome his face. He would ask her to take a stroll with him through the park one afternoon. The sun would be out, the flowers would be perky and glisten with the morning dew. The villiage of Konoha had such amazing and wonderous flowers this time of year, they always had them arranged in just the most unique way. No other place in the world could be quite as facinating as the park in Konoha. That would be the perfect place to propose to her his love.

So he quickly retrieved his cellphone from his pocket and hurridly began punching in the numbers. It rang, and rang, and rang, no awnser, just voicemail. He couldn't beilieve it, he had mustered up all the courage he had, every last ounce, and he had not even gotten to ask. "What a drag..." he sighed. When just then, from behind him, he heard a distinct voice. "Whats a drag ?" she said playfully. He knew this voice, it was Temari.

'Uh-oh!' he thought to himself. Shikamaru could feel himself blushing heavily now. "N...nothing" he managed to stammer out. " Oh, you can tell me, maybe I can help" she prodded. He hadn't expected this, nor prepared himself for the shock of it all. He could not, with all his brain power, think of what to do in this situation. " C'mon, Shikamaru, whats the worst that could happen?" she questoned. "You're right, I guess" he said shrugging "The fact is that, It had something to do with you" he said nervously. "Me?" she questioned with curiosity "Yeah, I wanted to ask you if you'd come with me on a stroll through Konoha Park. So, I called you and you didnt answer. That's what was bothering me."He let out a sigh of relief. "Why don't we go right now, Shikamaru? I could enjoy taking a gander at all the spectacular flowers blooming this time of year." She replied emphatically. "uhh...uhh..." he was shocked. "Sure, lets go!" he announced with nervous enthusiasm. They began their decent from where Shikamaru was lying, in the emerald green grass, towards the Park of Konoha.

It was an awkward walk there, niether of them could think up a good conversation starter.

Here they were, approaching the beggining of the Park. "So, Temari...whats your favorite flower?" he asked listening intuitively for an answer. "Hmmm...that's a really hard question!" she exclaimed as a childish grin was beggining to spread across her face. "..but if I really had to pick, it'd be the Chakra Flowers!" they were well into the park. There was an amazing array of flowers everywhere you looked. Shikamaru had known about the chakra flowers, but never really paid much attention to it. "The chakra flower is a very unique, one of a kind in fact!" Temari began to explain. "No one really knows how, or even why, but you can change it's color from its normal cottony white color to any color you want by the amount of chakra you put into it. See there they are right there" Shikamaru glanced over his shoulder to see what she was pointing at. He could tell that she truly loved this particular one for it's uniqueness, maybe she would love him for his aswell. " Oh cool." he said enthusiastically.They were nearing the center where there was a babbling brook. "Hey, Temari?" he said softly. He could feel his heart beat faster and faster, this was it, here and now, he was going to tell her. "Yeah, Shikamaru?" she replied innocently. His heart was sinking, sinking deeper and deeper into love. " I... I really like you, as more than a friend." he stammered. "What do you mean Shikamaru?" she inquizitivly replied. " Temari, I... I love you." he announced "I love you". Now Temari was slightly blushing. Her eyes glistened in the sunlight as tears began to well up in her eyes. Shikamaru quickly observing the tears exclaimed " I'm sorry, I honestly didn't mean to make you..." she had gently raised her hand and placed it over Shikamaru's mouth mid-sentence. " Don't apologize, Shikamaru." she said looking up at him looking him directly in the eyes now. "These are happy tears." He was overjoyed. It was the complete opposite of what he had suspected. "I'm happy because ... because I love you too Shikamaru! " She gently lowered her hand from covering his mouth. Temari then threw her arms around him, hugging him with such passion, such love. Shikamaru held her in his arms hugging her back. He was deeply in love with Temari, so deep he was swimming in it. Then Temari tilted her head slightly on his shoulder and gave quickly gave him a kiss on his cheek. He then leaned down and whispered in her ear " I love you, I'm glad you feel the same way too..."

I do not own Naruto


End file.
